WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts Tests New Format New Name to Draw New Audiences

A report from the Wallace Foundation suggests that a festival and rebranding effort could increase name recognition and draw younger audiences to an arts presenter participating in the foundation's Building Audiences for Sustainability initiative, a $52 million effort launched in 2015. Part of a series describing the work of arts organizations participating in the initiative, the report, WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts Tests New Format New Name to Draw New Audiences, outlines how WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts conducted a three-month, $75,000 Wallace-funded study of the preferences of both current audiences and the 21- to 40-year-old prospects the organization hoped to attract and found that 75 percent of those surveyed liked the idea of a winter festival that combined different types of performances with foods from around the world. Fifteen hundred people attended the first CRASHfest in 2016, of whom 61 percent were new to World Music/CRASHarts and 56 percent were under the age of 40. With improvements in food offerings, program information, and a bump-out stage for lesser-known performers, attendance increased to 1,850 in 2018, with proceeds increasing by more than 60 percent. The Boston-based arts presenter also spent nearly a year poring over data, defining goals, conducting focus groups, and collecting ideas from staff and board to re-brand itself with a new name, which will be unveiled during its 2019–20 season.